Last weekend, the angry and angry Ukrainian president called on former German and French leaders Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy to block his country’s entry into the NATO alliance at the 2008 summit.
Accession could have protected his country from future Russian attacks under the Article 5 guarantee of collective defense.
In a video now seen around the world, Zelensky shared his message about the former German chancellor and French president.
“I urge Mrs Merkel and Mr Sarkozy to visit Bucha and see what Russia’s concession policy has led to for 14 years,” Zelensky said.
“To see with their own eyes the tortured Ukrainian men and women.”
His remarks took McKay back to the fateful summit in Bucharest, Romania, where Canada and some of his allies were discussing a plan to see Ukraine join NATO.
Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, with MacKay as Secretary of Defense, wholeheartedly supported the expansion.
“I remember French President Sarkozy being pushed into a corner with Chancellor Angela Merkel and they had a rather moving conversation,” McKay recalled in an interview this week.
When the meeting resumed, McCay recalled that Sarkozy and Merkel were speaking out against granting access to Ukraine to a plan that would put it on the path to NATO membership.
“And that was the end. It just melted like spring snow after that little collision in the corner.”
France and Germany denied the alliance the consent it needed to move forward.
MacKay’s concerns offer a glimpse of Canada’s role in the geopolitical turmoil that culminated in the Russian War in Ukraine and the widespread global condemnation of President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal for allegedly killing civilians and torturing civilians. , a city near Kyiv.
Ukraine abandoned its plans to join NATO two years later under former President Viktor Yanukovych, but became a foreign policy priority again in 2017 under then-President Petro Poroshenko.
Canada can finally be found on the right side of history, given what followed the Bucharest summit: the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia in 2014, the eight-year war in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine with Russian backers separatists, and the tragedies and alleged war crimes stemming from the invasion of February 24th.
“I think it was a decision that implemented some of the very negative consequences that we are seeing playing on the pitch right now in Ukraine,” MacKay said of the 2008 meeting.
“(Zelenskyy) expresses how many people see this moment as crucial and historically tragic. ».
As Bucha’s news broke, MacKay dug into an old box of papers and picked up a blue gold notebook from the 2008 summit. He said it felt “ominous” to be reminded.
The summit was occupied mainly by the NATO mission in Afghanistan, where Canada and its allies were facing a new wave of violence from a Taliban and al Qaeda insurgency.
NATO’s expansion further east into Europe – something Putin has so far strongly opposed as a security threat – has also been the subject of debate.  Ukraine and Georgia, both former members of the Soviet Union, were vying for membership.
McKay remembered a passionate conversation.
“There have been concerns, especially for Ukraine, about allegations of governance and corruption within the government. of satellite countries “.
Canada, however, was adamant.  During the meeting on April 2, 2008, Harper issued a statement saying that Canada supports the efforts of Ukraine and Georgia to join the process that would eventually lead to full NATO membership.
“The Ukrainian people are naturally longing for more freedom, democracy and prosperity. Canada will do everything in its power to help Ukraine achieve these ambitions,” said Harper, who did not respond to a request for comment. .
Shuvaloy Majumdar, policy chief for Harper’s longtime secretary of state John Baird, said Canada, many European countries and the US government of George W. Bush were among those pushing for NATO expansion.
“Canada was the first leader at the time. It was the German opposition that intervened in Ukraine’s accession,” said Mujumdar, who now works for Harper’s consulting firm and heads the foreign policy program at the Macdonald-Laur Institute think tank. .
“Germany and others (were) more focused on reconciliation, energy and life in a fantasy country when it came to energy transition issues, whether it was nuclear or other renewable sources.”
Harper later played a leading role in ousting Russia from what was then the G8 – now the G7 – after the 2014 invasion of Crimea.
McKay said the West could still cope with Ukraine, especially as Russian forces have partially withdrawn.  NATO has said that imposing a no-fly zone would spark a large-scale war with Russia.  MacKay said it should choose a “variant” of this by equipping Ukraine with huge quantities of air defense weapons, including fighter jets.
McKay said he believed Russia was regrouping for another attack, even though its forces were very bloodthirsty and discouraged.
“It goes without saying that Vladimir Putin had a distorted view of rebuilding the Soviet Union at the front, if not at the back of his mind for a long time,” McKay said.
“And he was testing the ends of NATO and saw that Ukraine was the most vulnerable and most desirable in terms of its location.”
This Canadian Press report was first published on April 9, 2022.